The History, Design and Present State of the Religious, Benevolent and Charitable Institutions, Founded by the British in Calcutta and Its Vicinity/Government Sanscrit College
GOVERNMENT
SANSCRIT COLLEGE.
By the Act of the 53d Geo. 111, Cap. 155, the East India Company was empowered to appropriate under certain conditions from the Territorial Revenue, the sum of a lac of Rupees annually “to the revival and improvement of literature and the encouragement of the learned natives of India, and for the introduction and promotion of a knowledge of the sciences among the inhabitants of the British Territories in India.” It does not appear, however, that the government was enabled to act with special advertence to this permission until very lately; nevertheless, the encouragement of learning, though not systematically pursued, had not been disregarded even long before the enactment, above quoted, was passed. Mr. Hastings founded the Madrissa, or Mohomedan College in Calcutta in the year 1780, and in 1794, at the recommendation of Mr. Duncan, a College was endowed at Benares for the cultivation of Hindoo literature. But in the year 1811, the decay of science and literature among the natives of India, became the subject of the peculiar consideration of the government, and it was then resolved to found two new Hindoo Colleges in the districts of Nuddeah and Tirhoot, for the expenses of which it was designed to allot the annual sum of 25,000 Rupees. Various difficulties, however, having obstructed the execution of this intention, it was ultimately abandoned and a different plan adopted.
Provincial seminaries of this description did not, on more mature enquiry, promise those general and extensive advantages which were contemplated in their establishment, and the Government was satisfied that its views could be best accomplished by the formation of a Collegiate Establishment at the Presidency, the principal object of which should be the cultivation of the Sanscrit language, and Braminical science and literature. The superior importance of planting this College in the Metropolis was beyond dispute. Calcutta being necessarily the resort of a vast number of Asiatics, its celebrity as a city, its European masters, its opulence, its centrical situation with regard to the Peninsula, and the upper provinces, and the facility of access to it, whether by land or water, all contribute to render it attractive to the natives of India, and therefore peculiarly adopted to the situation of a seminary, which it was intended should be accessible to students from every part of the country. Besides these and other advantages unnecessary to enumerate, the establishment of the institution at the seat of government, would secure a facility and efficiency of control and superintendance, which could not be obtained in a more distant quarter.
Influenced by these considerations, the Governor General in Council determined in the year 1821, that a Hindoo College should be founded in Calcutta, on a footing similar to that of the College already established at Benares, with such modifications as should subsequently prove necessary or advisable; that the sum of 25,000 Rupees (afterwards increased to 30,000) should be annually granted for the support of the institution, and that the superintendance of it should be vested in a Committee to be named by the Government. A sum of about a lac and twenty thousand Rupees was allotted by Government for the cost of Buildings and the purchase of Ground. The spot chosen was in an extensive Square lately formed in a centrical part of the city, and the first stone of the edifice was laid on the 25th of February 1821, with masonic ceremonies, in the presence of a large assembly of Europeans and a vast concourse of natives, who seemed to take a lively interest in the scene.[1] The College Buildings are intended to provide accommodation for the professors and students, besides lecture rooms, and an apartment for the reception of a valuable philosophical apparatus presented by the British India Society to the native Hindoo College, but which, by an arrangement with the Managers of that seminary, will be applied to the benefit of both institutions.
The following classes comprehend the ordinary course of study, to be pursued in the SanPage:History, Design and Present State of the Religious, Benevolent and Charitable Institutions.djvu/137 scrit College,—Three Grammar,—one General Literature,—one Rhetoric and Prosody,—one Law,—one Logic.
Students are not eligible to the College until they shall have attained the age of 12 years. They are supposed to remain in the lower classes in which certain studies are prescribed for six years, after which, or earlier, if qualified, they are at liberty to enter any other class or classes they please, and to remain, at their option, for a further term of six years, provided their diligence does not relax. Besides the branches of education above enumerated, provision is made for the attendance of the pupils of the highest class on a course of Lectures on natural and experimental philosophy, and for enabling such of them as may evince a capability and desire of learning, and otherwise merit the distinction, to pursue this branch of study still further. A proficiency in the English language being obviously requisite to enable the students to profit by this arrangement, the knowledge of that language was declared to be an indispensible qualification for admission to the highest class. The philosophical course would embrace the following subjects,—Mechanics,—Hydrostatics,— Pneumatics,— Optics,— Electricity,—Astronomy,— Chemistry; and a Professor or Lecturer was to be appointed with a Salary of 500 £ per annum. The philosophical apparatus, the gift of the London Society, was to be placed at this Officer’s disposal, and the Lectures, as already stated, would be for the joint instruction of the students of the Government College, and of the Native Hindoo College, which will be noticed hereafter.
A portion of the College Funds is assigned to the payment of stipends to one hundred pupils (not necessarily to consist of that number, but fluctuating within it as a fixed limit according to circumstances) being either strangers, not possessing the means of subsistence in Calcutta, or other indigent students. This is conformable to the ancient practice of the Hindoos, among whom education was gratuitous, and the prejudices and expectations of the people continue to run in the same current.[2] The students are not confined to Calcutta, and it’s immediate vicinity, but come from distances of 50 or 60 miles; few of them have connexions in the city, or the means of maintaining themselves without assistance. It is necessary therefore to furnish them with some small provision, especially as it is highly desirable to attract this particular description of persons, with the view of diffusing through the widest circle, the advantages of native education, and a just appretiation the enlightened views of the Government.
To secure the preference of the stipendiary allowance to those most needing it, it is a rule that of the whole number of students at any time on the Foundation of the College, not more than one third shall be fixed residents in Calcutta; the remainder are to be the sons of individuals inhabiting any part of the provinces subject to this Presidency without the limits of the Metropolis. But with reference to the existence of a similar Institution for the convenience of the inhabitants of the upper provinces, a preference is given in the Calcutta College, in the event of competition for vacancies, to natives of Bengal and Orissa, the previous qualifications in other respects being equal. No youth is admitted to the paid establishment of Foundation scholars, whose parents or connections are able to provide for his support. Those students who have gone through the early classes of the College, and have entered upon those which are to form the advanced course of study, as well as those, who having acquired the requisite competency elsewhere, enter at once into the superior classes, receive the allowance at the rate of eight, the others at that of five Rupees per mensem.
The revenue of 30,000 Rupees per annum, assigned to the College by Government is appropriated in the following manner,
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leaving a trifling surplus for contingencies. As however some time may elapse before the College is in full operation, some considerable saving may in the interim be made, which will be applied to the purchase of books and other articles, with a view to the formation of a Sanscrit Library to be attached to the Institution.
While engaged in the consideration of the means of providing class books for the Sanscrit College, it occurred to the Committee of Public Instruction, that it would be expedient that a Press for the printing of books for the public seminaries, should be established under their control, and maintained from the Funds at their disposal for the purpose of general education. The plan in a digested form was accordingly submitted as an experimental measure to Government by whom it was sanctioned. The experiment is first to be tried on a limited scale with reference to the immediate demands of the Sanscrit College, and the result will determine whether the Printing Establishment shall not hereafter be extended to the execution of work in every oriental type likely to be required in the public Institutions on this side of India.
A gentleman of eminent attainments in several of the native languages, and distinguished Sanscrit Scholar, has been appointed Secretary to the College, with an allowance of 300 Rupees per mensem. The superintendance of the College will be vested in him, subject to the control of the Government Committee of Public Instruction, the object of whose appointment will hereafter be more fully described.
It does not fall within the scope of this work to detail more particularly the course of study and the system of discipline which are to be pursued in the Sanscrit College. What has been said above will suffice to give a general idea of the purposes of the Institution. The regulations are moreover likely to undergo alterations as experience may suggest new arrangements, after the operations of the College commence. That as little time as possible may be lost in effecting this desirable object, a house has been hired for the use of the Institution, until the new buildings shall be completed; preceptors have been engaged, and other preliminary arrangements made.
The principal object of the College, as has been already stated, and as will appear from the foregoing sketch, is the cultivation of Sanscrit learning. Whatever may be the defects of that system, it possesses merits, which, to say the least, must always render it an object of liberal and enlightened curiosity; and it cannot be at variance with the duty of a great Government to preserve from decay and degradation, a system of science and literature held in pious veneration by the great body of it’s subjects, deeply interwoven with their domestic habits and religious faith, and containing the only authentic records, (clouded as they are by the romance and fable of their ancient history) of a people from whom the enlightened nations of Europe have remotely derived the benefits of knowledge and the blessings of civilization. But it is infinitely desirable to combine with this object, the still more important one of opening new sources of intellectual and moral improvement, by the gradual admission of the lights of European science and learning, and thus to repay the debt of Europe to the East.
The most substantial benefits to general knowledge in this country maybe expected from the encouragement to be given to the attainment of the English language, and by the establishment of the philosophical lectures and the attendance on these of the Hindoo Students who will be principally Bramins: for, there is little reason to doubt that the connection thus laid between European and Hindoo learning, and the incitement held out to the prosecution of the former by rendering it the reward of diligence and merit, will, independently of it’s intrinsic attractiveness, occasion it to be eagerly sought after by Hindoo Scholars of ability and enterprize. The union being thus effected in one case, it may hereafter be comparatively easy to carry the combination into other departments, and the improved cultivation of science and literature may be thus successfully and extensively produced. Although, therefore, it be the immediate object of the Institution to cherish Hindoo Literature, yet, it is not unreasonable to hope that such pursuits, fostered by European encouragement, may awaken curiosity to more enlightened studies, and tend by the gradual diffusion of European information to the promotion of useful learning and sound morals.